“Ready? 1…2…3…4…” And with that, the hammered-dulcimer festival goers attending my “Healthy Hammering Clinic” launched into a five-note, D-major scale.

“Wow!” “I don’t believe it!” “Incredible!” (And similar nonverbal expressions of astonishment.)

How can a five-note scale create this much excitement? After all, this workshop is about how to play the dulcimer healthily. These folks were not prepared for the depth of sound that would come from the ergonomically friendly hammer hold I carefully guided them towards over the previous 30 minutes. Their ears basked in an overtone-free, resonant sound that they’ve not experienced before, and the glow on their faces now tells all.

While I’m a little overwhelmed by this group’s positive responses, the result is no surprise. I have walked countless dulcimer players down this path since November 15, 1985, when one of my private students stated out of the blue, “You know, we don’t hold our hammers the same way.” At that moment I wondered: Why did I hold my hammers the way I did? Why did this student and countless other players hold their hammers other ways? And more importantly, could something as “ordinary” as a hammer hold make any difference as far as playing the dulcimer is concerned?

Over the next several months, I studied my own and every hammer hold that walked into my home and met me at workshops on the road. My ear honed by college music training, I heard differences among them all. But why? What made a hammer hold produce one type of sound or another? I needed answers if I was to point my students in a musical (meaning something well beyond right notes) direction. It would take another two years—at least—to get answers, and many more years to recognize a relationship between hammer hold and overall playing health. Through it all, there is still no greater thrill for me than when yet another dulcimer player finds the “soul” of the dulcimer, beckoning the science of music to transcend into the art of music.

Changing one’s hammer hold for either playing health or beneficial sound doesn’t happen without chancing fear of the unfamiliar. It’s easier to stick with the known, despite the drawbacks, as I encountered in another context the day before teaching this workshop: A woman I’d just met saw me crocheting and overtook me with, “Let me show you how to carry the yarn in your left hand so you can crochet faster.” Deep inside, I could feel myself retreat from her unsolicited offer. I’d been hanging onto the yarn with my entire left hand for decades. But I also knew I needed her guidance: Back in the eighth grade when I learned to crochet from a book (I’ve been into book learning for a long time), I saw, and chose to ignore, an illustration showing how to lace the yarn through the left-hand fingers. Why bother? After all, I could make the various stitches, and I was crocheting. What difference did it make how the yarn was carried? Plenty! In under one minute, this woman gifted me with her knowledge, after which I began exploring it further. Fifteen minutes later, my left index finger, at first straight and rigid as it learned to balance the yarn over it, relaxed and found its place. And so did everything else: The yarn fed into the hook without my “help”, the stitches loosened up (I’ve always crocheted tightly—at last I am out of the way of myself), and the hook’s rhythm sped up markedly. What a transformation! I can’t look back; the old habit is too cumbersome now.

The lesson is clear: There are ways of doing things, and there are ways of doing things. I can struggle along (unaware of how mechanized my ‘comfortable’ actions are because I’ve always done them that way), or I can release myself to achieve new levels of satisfaction, speed and quality with the help of someone who understands the difference. Why not rejoice in the latter?

And so it is for these dulcimer players. Perhaps they are here out of curiosity, in hope of a quick fix, or something else, but they surely did not come expecting to hear a difference in their dulcimers’ sound. The boundless resonance of their fivenote scale undeniably fills this dark, dreary room on a rainy day, inviting these folks to rub shoulders with the art of music. They know now that the seeming magic they create is not reserved for an intuitive few, but for anyone who perceives that there is a difference and is willing to explore How and Why this is so.

There are ways of doing things, and there are ways of doing things.

We have one more area to cover on our sound expedition: what I call “comparison shopping.” I ask the class to play the scale again and listen, this time holding their hammers they way they had before I changed things around (they displayed quite the collection of variations). I can see in their eyes that they want to protest, “Do we have to?” after the sumptuous feast they’ve just fed their ears. They return to their former ways, anyway, and listen wide-eyed as a nasal sound hovers close to each instrument. They cannot believe they had made their dulcimers sound like that up until now (and some have been doing it for years), but are pleased to know that they don’t have to ever again. Back to playing with the new hold, yielding a resonance that breathes vibrant and free.

Who knows what these players will do in the days ahead with what they’ve learned? Some will embrace it as a foundation, others will shelve it as an interesting idea and return to their previous, albeit clunky, modes. And one or two may decide I am out of my mind in my quest to refine the sound of a folk instrument.

There are ways of doing things, and there are ways of doing things.

I usually demonstrate sound differences resulting from hammer hold using the tune “Petronella” because of the swing it also readily provides from something I call lift (see the rising, curved, dotted lines over the music). Lift is a bi-product of the stroke order RLR- RLR- (the RLR- chunk is underlined at the beginning of the tune, including within the two-stroke roll in measure 2 and elsewhere), and is a rising of both hands in a rhythm’s spaces to keep a continuous flow of hand/arm motion going through any tune. Lift allows the dulcimer’s sound to bloom forth into the room while shading the rhythm so the tune dances. The often-played RLR- LRL- (alternating strokes) applied to this tune disables lift, hardens the dulcimer’s sound, and flattens the rhythm’s dimension.

Symbols over the music indicate in which vertical area the notes will be struck on the dulcimer when playing with what’s called a right-hand lead (where the right hand strikes all the downbeats). Positions on the dulcimer are as follows:

Where no position appears over a note, play it in first position (I).

I recommend that those who write with the left hand play the dulcimer lefthanded. To this end, the addition to the position symbols of single dots (for I) and double dots (for II) augment the right-handed symbols for a left-hand lead. All the left-handed player has to do is reverse the strokes under the music. (Note: I found a couple pattern choices in spots for lefties, but chose the pattern I believed would feel easiest.)

I recorded “Petronella” twice to demonstrate the difference in sound as experienced by the Healthy Hammering Clinic participants. Each recording plays the tune once through, observing repeats (AABB form) and playing the same notes (well, almost; see “*” under “Petronella 1” below). Both were played on the same dulcimer, a 15/15 Professional Chromatic dulcimer by Bob Tack, using the same hammers, a single-sided pair with wooden mallet surfaces. The recordings were produced using a matched stereo pair of Neumann KM184 microphones. The recording levels for both versions were kept the same for the purpose of demonstrating the difference in sound as generated by the player; also, no electronic enhancement was applied. Therefore, all sound changes come from my own physical modifications in hammer hold and playing action.

Click on each title below to hear “Petronella” played both ways.

Listen to Petronella #1 — This version demonstrates the sound the participants produced at the beginning of the Clinic, using the most prevalent holding elements displayed by the group: The hammers sit on the ends of the index fingers with the thumb on top and the index and middle fingers in contact with the handle underneath. The thumbs are set at an angle to the hammer shafts, so that the hammers can be parallel to each other. The strings are struck by bending the wrists, with both hammers stopping at the rising dotted line in each space of the rhythm. Further, the hammers are flexed up and down by the fingers and thumb to assist the wrists while playing.

*You will hear a couple of mistakes on this recording, which I chose to leave in. Because I played this version from my wrists, my forearms and elbows froze up, making it difficult to successfully negotiate even small leaps over the dulcimer. (Petronella #2 supplies the correct notes.)

Listen to Petronella #2 — This version demonstrates the sound the participants produced at the end of the Clinic after modifying their hammer hold and playing action: The hammers sit on the middle segments of the index fingers (between the creases in those fingers), with the thumb on top. Only the index finger is in contact with the handle underneath. The thumbs are set in line with the hammer shafts; the hammers “pigeon-toe” slightly towards each other. (It’s possible to draw a straight line from the middle of the elbow to the end of the hammer.) The strings are struck by “bouncing” the hands over the dulcimer (the playing action occurs back at the elbows) so that both hands/hammers lift at the rising dotted line in each space in the rhythm. With at least the first segment of the thumb lying flat on the handle, the hammers swing up and down (and rebound off the strings) on their own as the forearms rise and fall.

When comparing the sound quality and dance feel of both versions, the sound of Petronella #1 comes through on the raspy side, making it difficult to discern the pitches being played. Its “woody” sound derived from the hammers also asks the dancers to pound their feet into the floor. The sound of Petronella #2 emits a pure sound whose pitches are easily discerned; nasal overtones are exchanged for clear resonance. This time, the dulcimer’s resonance explores every corner of the room (well, of your speakers). Its dance beckons the dancers to pick up the foot up before putting it down (a basic fundamental of dancing!) and to be light on the feet on a seemingly elastic dance floor.

Thanks to Peggy Martin, coordinator of the North Georgia Foothills Dulcimer Association Fall Festival, for requesting the Healthy Hammering Clinic for the 2004 Fall Festival, and to Skip Cubbedge for his enthusiasm in recording the tune examples.

About the Author

Lucille Reilly, a New Jersey native residing in Colorado, abides with 4 cats, a weaving loom, a spinning wheel, a few crochet hooks, a food processor, and countless, mostly stringed musical instruments. As the 1997 National Hammered Dulcimer Champion (and two-time International Autoharp Champion), she holds a music degree from Westminster Choir College and is a Melodious Accord Composers Fellow. The author of Striking Out and Winning! A music-maker’s guide to the hammered dulcimer, Lucille performs regularly on concert series around the United States and composes music for choirs (many including dulcimer accompaniment) as well as original tunes. Her transformational findings on hammer hold and other striking points of view, along with music for everyone’s listening enjoyment, can be found at www.thedulcimerlady.com.